Barcelona president Joan Laporta has refused to rule out requesting a replay against Real Madrid after Lamine Yamal had a goal disallowed at the Santiago Bernabeu in the 3-2 defeat.
The LaLiga title was all but wrapped up by Los Blancos after they came from behind twice to extend their lead at the top of the table to 11 points.
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A stoppage-time winner from Jude Bellingham was the difference in the Spanish capital once again after the England international netted late on in the reverse fixture back in October.
Now, with five games to go, it would take a colossal collapse from Carlo Ancelotti’s side to hand the crown back to Xavi and Barca for the second consecutive year.
The Blaugrana matched the Champions League semi-finalists in their refurbished stadium until the final minutes and could have walked away with at least a point had Yamal’s effort been given as a goal.
But unlike the Premier League, LaLiga does not have goal-line technology and officials were unable to determine whether his near-post effort fully crossed the line.
Laporta is planning to ask the Technical Committee of Referees for images of the incident and should it be proven that a goal should have been awarded, next steps will be taken accordingly and could include requesting a replay.
President @JoanLaportaFCB: “Tools like VAR have to help in achieving a fairer competition, and not otherwise.” pic.twitter.com/43sOsSGWwz
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) April 22, 2024
He said: “As president of FC Barcelona, ​​I want to convey the dissatisfaction caused by the fact that one day after one of the most important matches on the world calendar, the misuse of a tool such as VAR is setting our agenda.
“As you know, I have never been a great defender of VAR because I believe that, as it is applied, it takes away spontaneity from football.
“But what I am in favor of is that, since we have it, it should always be used to avoid errors that could lead to unfair decisions.
“We understand the difficulty of the referee’s work but precisely for that reason There are tools that should help have a fairer competition and not the other way around.
“Yesterday there were several debatable plays but among all of them there is one that is essential and that can lead to a change in the final result of the game.
“I am referring to the so-called Lamine ghost goal. As a club we want to be sure about what happened and that is why I inform you that from FC Barcelona we will immediately request the Technical Committee of Referees and the Spanish Football Federation to provide us with all the images and audios generated by the play.
#ElClásico comeback and 11-point lead at the top of the table.
— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) April 21, 2024
“If, once this documentation has been analysed, the club understands that an error occurred in the assessment of the play, we will implement all the appropriate actions to reverse the situation without, obviously, ruling out any necessary legal proceedings.
“If it is confirmed that it was a legal goal, we will go further and do not rule out asking for a replay of the match, just as has happened in a European match due to a VAR error.”
Earlier in the season, a top-tier match in Belgium between Anderlecht and Genk was replayed due to a VAR error.
However, this was related to an incident where a player encroached on the penalty box before a penalty was taken rather than a misjudgement over whether the ball had fully crossed the line to deny a goal.
